CH 323

Lee Gun was dumbfounded. The pain from stage 6 going berserk was still troubling him, and on top of that, he had been kidnapped to some strange place.

Beyond all that ridiculous, someone he had seen for the first time was suddenly claiming to be his father. As if that wasn’t enough, the bald Zodiac had been revealed to be his uncle. 

Moreover, his uncle and the original owners were the bad guys, so he was told not to revive them.

‘If they have such a sordid past, I have no reason to summon them.’

Lee Gun, who had been listening up to this point, looked for the exit. From the looks of it, he realized this was the Middle World.

It was like the secret hideout that Aquarius had used to hide in the past, a crack between dimensions.

‘Is this the Serpent Bearer’s space?’

Anyway, he couldn’t see the exit. So he tried to use his Space ability, but the thirteenth just let out a bright smile as he grabbed his son’s shoulder.

[My son. From your expression, it seems you’re curious about your mother.]

“Not at all. Also, why do you keep saying that you are my father?”

[Yes, yes. You must be curious. Your mother was the most beautiful woman in the universe…]

“I’m not interested??? Also, I was born a human. How am I the offspring of a god?”

The thirteenth let out a laugh full of complicated emotions. It seemed this was a story that he wanted to tell to Lee Gun at all costs.

[Your mother was a human.]

“!”

The thirteenth stroked Lee Gun’s face with yearning. An expression of longing appeared on his face as if he had seen Lee Gun’s mother in his face. Even though that had happened a long time ago, it was still vivid in his mind.

In those days, the thirteenth would occasionally leave the Divine world and sneak into human society. It was all for only one reason.

“Oh my! You always come when there is no moon.”

Lee Gun’s mother had been a princess. She was a princess of a theocratic state that worshiped a different god.

Of course, the princess was the holy priestess of the theocratic state, which followed another god. It wouldn’t go over well if word got out that the holy priestess had fallen in love with a different god.

This was why their meetings were conducted in secret. They always met on the first day of the lunar month. It was a day when the humans, the sun god, the moon god, and anyone else couldn’t see them.

The thirteenth appeared on the first day of the lunar month, when the moon went into hiding, and they had to depart when the new moon started to appear.

In principle, the holy priestess must look at only the Zodiac that she served, but she had instead fallen in love with the thirteenth.

Them being able to silently look into each other’s eyes had been enough. 

Moreover, the thirteenth was willing to give up his revenge for the happiness of this woman. He didn’t even dream about taking his revenge and just resolved to live a quiet life. He even hid the fact that he remembered what happened in the past. However…

[Damn it! This is driving me nuts. Aslan remembers what we did!]

[What?! D-Does he want to get revenge on us?]

[He didn’t say it! However, how can I trust what he says?]

[Shit! Should we have killed him alongside his parents on that day?]

[This is all Sagittarius’ fault! If only he didn’t tell us to spare Aslan so that we could use him!]

[This is bad! Aslan is Sagittarius’s little brother!]

[What? Is that true? How do you know this?]

[They were acting suspiciously, so I followed them! They said they are brothers!]

[Shit! Did Sagittarius spare him because he’s his younger brother?]

[That damn bastard…!]

The original owners shook in fear. 

The thirteenth had made it clear that he had no plans of harming them, yet how could they trust him?

They were afraid. Therefore, when they found out about the existence of the princess that the thirteenth had been hiding, they made a plan.

They planned on taking the princess hostage and putting on a leash around his neck. However…

[D-Damn it! What the hell are you going to do about this?]

[Why are you blaming me? I never expected things to turn out like this!]

They had killed the princess by mistake.

[Damn it. She resisted when I tried to use my power on her…!]

[Shit! Why are humans so weak?]

[Ah! Wait a moment! This woman is still alive. She’ll live if we heal her…]

[Forget it! She has already seen our faces! We are dead if she speaks to Aslan about this!]

The thirteenth could never find out that they had meant ill will toward the princess.

[Let’s erase our tracks and keep our mouths shut.]

The original owners informed the royal family and their people of what the princess had been up to.

The princess was supposed to be the holy priestess that served a god of a theocratic state. So her having feelings for a different god was a huge problem. It was big enough to enrage the god that she had served.

Moreover, the original owners had purposefully hit the country with a natural disaster. People blamed the natural disaster on the princess. They blamed her for letting her eyes wander to a different god. Everything that happened afterward was easy.

“The fallen princess caused the famine and drought.”

“The flood swept away everything here!”

“The god of our nation is angry!”

“The god is angry, and he wants the princess to be deposed!”

In the end, labeled as a traitor to her nation, the princess was burned alive at the stake.

At that time, the thirteenth had been away on a mission, and he had quickly returned to save the princess. However, it was too late.

Since she received the curse of her god, he couldn’t revive her using the power of Life. Of course, not everyone had died.

[It seems your mother protected you.]

The princess had been pregnant with the thirteenth’s child. That child was Lee Gun. Lee Gun had been inside her belly, and he had miraculously survived. The thirteenth gritted his teeth.

‘It’ll be dangerous if they find out about the existence of this child.’

He didn’t care about himself, but his child would be endlessly hunted down. This was why the thirteenth used the power of Cycle as soon as he took the child out of the mother’s stomach.

‘It isn’t time for you to be born yet.’

This was how Lee Gun was put into the flow of a god in charge of the life of humanity. Anyway, this had allowed Lee Gun to avoid the detection of the gods and be born into the world someday when it was safe for him.

Of course, he would temporarily wear the shell of his fake parents, but that shell would peel off over time.

‘I want you to remember nothing. Don’t get into any trouble. Live happily as a human.’

This was how the thirteenth sent Lee Gun on his way. 

When the thirteenth had lost all those he had loved at once, he had shed tears of blood.

[I will never forgive them.]

What was so important about power and reputation? He had been willing to bury everything, yet they had done this to him. It had caused the rage and hate that he had been suppressing to surge forward.

[You guys should suffer the same fate. Whatever you guys stole, you guys will have stolen from yourselves in the same fashion.]

Therefore, the thirteenth immediately sought out the Constructs of the original owners, who were being tormented.

While he couldn’t take the Constructs of the other Zodiacs, he knew these Constructs well. He usually took care of them.

This was why he knew what pains they were going through, and he knew about their dissatisfaction. Egging them on was easy.

[Why are you guys treated this way? What do you guys lack?]

[!]

[Am I wrong? From what I see of your abilities, you guys are much better than your masters.]

[!]

This was how he egged on the Constructs, then he called for his Construct Mimir.

[Mimir. You know everything about this world. I’m sure you know my and the twelve Zodiacs’ weaknesses.]

[Master?]

[I want you to spread that information to the Constructs of the other temples, especially to the Constructs of the Pisces.]

[What? That will put you in danger too, Master!]

[It doesn’t matter]

[…!!]

The light in the thirteenth’s eyes had changed. The hate was slowly turning him into an evil god.

If he couldn’t control his anger, he knew he would become a monster. However, he didn’t care.

‘Let us all die. All the thirteen Zodiacs will be annihilated.’

Those original owners had usurped the seats that they coveted, and they would die by being usurped in the same way.

This was how his plan had slowly progressed. The original owners, who had sinned against the thirteenth, had fallen into the trap on their own. They became sick, and their Constructs made plans to usurp their seats.

Of course, the thirteenth never told anyone about this plan. This was especially true of Yeonwoo and Junwoo.

‘I cannot let them change into an evil god like me.’

If they found out what he was planning, they would volunteer to help him. The thirteenth was changing into an evil god, and if he weren’t careful, he would assimilate the other Constructs. He would make them fall.

This was why he didn’t let his Constructs approach him. He made it so that his Constructs could live a free life when everything was done. He made a contract with Divine world to facilitate this. He merely left behind requests and letters.

[I want you to have a happy life with your younger brother.]

The thirteenth stroked the sleeping baby snakes.

[I know I’m asking for the impossible, but if it is possible…]

He wished they would look after his child that would be born someday. 

This was how the usurpation happened, and as planned, all the original owners had died. It also allowed the Constructs to take their power, but the thirteenth didn’t care.

The Seats of power and the power of the original owners belonged to the Creators. He considered it a gift to them, and he merely had to leave after that. 

The thirteenth had thought his revenge had ended there. However…

[I never expected the monarchs to make Time out of my body.]

Lee Gun snorted when he heard the word of the thirteenth. “So your plan went awry?”

[Yes. Moreover, I couldn’t do anything since I was already dead.]

Space-Time was born from the corpse of the Creators, who had died a long time ago. He then created Time, so his being so powerful was understandable.

Of course, Space-Time had eventually become Lee Gun’s EXP sandbag through the resets…

The matter was wrapped up nicely, but…

[Anyway, you know this because you fought them in my absence. The monarchs are quite troublesome beings. This is especially true of Time. There really was no answer for him.]

“!”

Time was the unwanted guest, and he made events flow in the opposite direction compared to the other monarchs.

[I never expected him to join hands with the twelve Zodiacs to threaten humanity. I never expected him to lay hands on Yeonwoo and Junwoo.]

Time had been a nasty piece of work. He had returned to a time before his birth. The usurpation that would have happened without the power of a monarch was facilitated by Time. 

He made it seem like he was helping them and easily secured a partnership with the twelve Zodiacs.

[Well, I never expected the Constructs who took over as the new twelve Zodiacs to fall so far… You did good taking care of that.]

The thirteenth wondered if those seats had changed them. He had believed in those children. This was why he felt a mixture of emotions.

Moreover, Time hadn’t just repeated these events once. He had done it tens of thousands of times, as Yeonwoo and Junwoo were tormented.

Then, there was another problem. Like Confusion, the thirteenth had also been swept up in returning through time. He had returned 18,733 times.

The reason was that Time was made from his body. However, unlike Confusion, the thirteenth was returned to the moment of his death. It gave him a real headache. Basically, it was the moment of Time’s birth.

[I thought I was about to lose my mind. It was really painful. My throat was cut, so I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t do anything. I could merely warm up the Serpent Bearer temple using the last of my power.]

“Is that how you were able to steal away Taeksoo?” Lee Gun had listened up to this point. He feigned laughter. “In other words, I’ve been cleaning the mess of my parent up until now.”

The thirteenth became serious at those words.

[No! That isn’t it at all! This was all done to grow you.]

“You want to die? What nonsense are you talking about?” 

The thirteenth’s expression changed.

[Why do you think your mother was found out?]

“!”

[Why do you think the twelve Zodiacs came to kill Yeonwoo and Junwoo?]

It was the genesis of all the tragedies. Lee Gun’s mother had been found out by the gods, and she was killed in the process of being kidnapped. 

Yeonwoo and Junwoo had been killed by the Constructs when they tried to take revenge for the thirteenth.

[I revealed the entire truth to Yeonwoo and Junwoo in a letter before I died. I told them that they didn’t need to take revenge for me. I told them to be free and not pay attention to my affairs.]

“…!”

[Had that letter been delivered, Yeonwoo and Junwoo would have never thought about getting revenge for me.]

Lee Gun was surprised.

[Also, I requested my Constructs to be freed after I died. That fell through. As a result, the Constructs of the Serpent Bearer temple were taken by the other Zodiacs.]

Lee Gun’s eyes turned serious. Of course, he knew what those words meant.

[Basically, someone told the original owners about the existence of your mom. Someone took the letter that I had left behind for Yeonwoo and Junwoo.]

“…!”

The thirteenth’s eyes turned sharp.

[Amongst the gods, some want the power of the Creators.]

“!”

[In other words, they’ll come for you.]

Well, he had never imagined Yeonwoo and Junwoo would meet Lee Gun.

[Anyway, you have to be careful. In truth, I never expected Time to use my daughter-in— I mean I never expected him to use Hailey to move to the other timeline. However, you were able to withstand the disassembly by the timeline. You were able to return. It’s something even the gods can’t do anything against. It’s all thanks to your power and the power of your human disciples.]

“What about it?”

[It isn’t a normal power. No one imagined human faith could be that powerful. This is why all the gods of the Divine world and the outer world will be interested in the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground. They’ll be interested in the earth and humans.]

This included the gods who had taken the Constructs of the Serpent Bearer temple and even the Great-Spirit ranks.

On the other hand, Lee Gun snorted when he realized what those words implied. “That’s fucking stupid. Are you saying the gods will want to take this land? They’ll come to make humanity into their disciples?”

[Yes. That is why—]

“Let’s say that might happen someday, but that isn’t important right now.”

[!]

Lee Gun immediately summoned something. 

The eyes of the thirteenth turned round when he saw the familiar figure. That was none other than the body of Yeonwoo.

[I didn’t want to do this in front of others, but it seems you don’t plan on letting me out of here.]

Her body had been easier to procure since Time had called forth Yeonwoo’s body from the past. Of course, Lee Gun had patched up anything lacking. 

Lee Gun then placed his hand on top of Yeonwoo’s body.

[Come back.]

Finally, Yeonwoo opened her eyes.